Future Designer Babies

A husband and wife are shopping online, they are choosing in very specific detail what and how they want their item to be. What are they buying in which they are being so picky? Their unborn child. Could this be the way of society in the future? In this paper I will be talking about what designer babies are, the research going on, how close we are to this becoming a reality along with the science behind it, and the pros, and cons of designer babies. What is a designer baby? A designer baby is, “a baby whose genetic makeup has been selected in order to eradicate a particular defect, or to insure a particular gene is present.”(dictionary.com) The process often confused with creating a designer baby in the U.S. is called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Just reading the process may help
Some parents might not create a designer baby to avoid having a child with a genetic disease, but just because they can. This brings up an important question, one that may be best to dwell upon before this could be our reality. If we ever have the ability to make a designer baby, should we? Some could argue we are playing the role of mother nature, evolving ourselves how we see fit. Others could argue that if we have the tools why not rid ourselves of genetic diseases and create super smart little model/athlete babies while we’re at it, we’re only making them better. There are many pros to making designer babies. The first, and usually the first to come to mind is ridding people of genetic diseases. Parents could also choose other desirable traits for their children. Maybe they want tall athletic boy or a beautiful girl with red hair, this could be made possible when creating a designer baby. By altering the genes in embryos we would have the ability to give children genes the parents don’t carry (Hanson). Everyone wants their children to live happy healthy lives, this could be our way to ensure that they